Gold prices stable despite strong dollar ahead of Fed meeting minutes

Gold prices stabilized on Tuesday despite a rise in the dollar and Treasury bond yields, with investors awaiting the minutes of the latest meeting of the Federal Reserve (the US central bank) to get more clues about the timing of cutting interest rates.

According to Reuters, the spot price of gold stabilized at $2,018.03 per ounce by 0341 GMT. Most US markets were closed on Monday for a holiday.

US gold futures rose 0.3% to $2,029.10 an ounce.

The dollar index rose 0.1%, and benchmark 10-year Treasury bond yields rose near four percent, making bullion priced in the US currency less attractive to foreign buyers.

Minutes from the Federal Reserve’s January monetary policy meeting are scheduled to be released on Wednesday.

Despite the notable progress in curbing inflation in the United States, the head of the US Federal Reserve in San Francisco, Mary Daly, said that “there is more work to be done” to ensure price stability. Another bank official also warned that interest rate cuts would be delayed for a long time.

US consumer and producer price data, which came in higher than expected last week, dashed hopes for a Federal Reserve interest rate cut in March.

Lower interest rates reduce the opportunity cost of holding bullion.

As for other precious metals, platinum fell in spot transactions by 0.6% to $893.16 per ounce, and palladium fell by 0.8% to $946.41 per ounce. Silver fell 0.4% to $22.93 an ounce.